Clock.



L. D. GIDDBNS.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

WYTNESSES ATENT FFIQE.

LEWIS I). GIDDENS, OF WILSON, NORTH CAROLINA.

CLOCK.

To all whom 711 may concern:

Be it known that I, Lnwrs D. GIDDENS,

a citizen of the United States, residing at- \Vilson, in the county of WVilson and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clocks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in clocks, and has particular reference to an improved form of alarm mechanism therefor adapted to sound at the termination of a certain period of time and automatically reset itself to sound when said period has again elapsed.

The leading object of my invention is the provision of an improved alarm mechanism for clocks which is especially adapted for use in mills where cotton seed is boiled to extract the oil, my device providing an alarm mechanism which can be set to warn the workmen at the termination of the period of time which the seed should remain in the vat and thus permit said workmen to occupy themselves with other work instead of its being necessary for them to remain by the vat due to lack of a suitable alarm mechanism which will give warning at the termination of a certain number of minutes.

The further object of my invention is the provision of an alarm mechanism which can be set to give a signal at the end of a desired number of minutes and which will be auto matically released after giving said signal and will re-set itself to repeat the alarm when said number of minutes have again expired.

To attain the desired objects, my invention comprises a ratchet wheel secured on the rear end of the shaft bearing the minute hand of the clock and rotating therewith, and a pawl adapted to be engaged by the ratchet wheel and carried around thereby, an abutment for engaging and releasing the pawl and an adjustable abutment for engaging the pawl when released in position to be again engaged by the ratchet, there being an alarm sounded by the contact of the pawl member with the first abutment, and the invention further residing in the novel features of construction and combination and arrangement of parts for service substantially as described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 represents a rear elevation of a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 26, 1910.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

Serial No. 594,379.

clock with my device applied thereto. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the clock bearing my device, part of the device being shown in section to illustrate the method of mounting the parts on the shaft or arbor of the clock. Fig. 3 represents a face view of the clock with my device applied thereto and the pointer shown as set for intervals of about 18 minutes, and, Fig. t represents a detailed view of the abutment arm with its pointer and an auxiliary pawl releasing device adapted to be manually operated.

In the drawings, in which similar characters of reference are employed to denote corresponding parts in the several views, the numeral 1 denotes the clock having the face 2 provided with the customary designations for indicating the time and having the minute hand 3 mounted on the arbor or shaft at and the hour hand 5.

The shaft 4: has a rear tapering extension 6, mounted on said extension and having a socket 7 of size to permit the extension 6 to turn freely therein is the disk 8 having the curved slot- 9 extending almost around the disk and having the arm 10 projecting from one side, said arm being in the form of a U having the pointer 11 which projects onto the face of the clock, while a clamping screw 12 passes through the slot 9 and is engaged in the back of the clock, the tightening of said screw bringing its head against the disk to clamp the disk and thus the arm against the clock to secure the pointer in adjusted position.

Mounted on the extension 6 rearwardly of the disk 8 is the collar 13 having a reduced threaded portion 14 and a plane reduced portion 15, while engaged on the threaded portion is a nut 16 held in position by the locking screw 17, to provide a space between the nut and the head end of the collar around the plane reduced portion of the collar. Loosely engaged in said space is the end of the plate 18 having an eye 19 in which the collar is engaged, while secured to the outer end of the plate is the pawl 20 having a longitudinal slot 21 through which passes the securing stud 22, there being a pair of abutments 23 and 24: on the plate between which the pawl is free to oscillate on its pivotal stud, while a curved blade-spring 25, is secured by the fastening 26, to the plate and bears against the pivoted end of pawl to force it inward, the curve of the spring being such as to engage the end of the pawl out of alinement with the pivot stud to retain the pawl against either the abutment 23 or '34 according to which abut-- ment the pawl is swung into engagement with.

Secured on the extension (3 rearwardly oi the collar 1?) is the ratchet wheel 20 which lies in alinement with the pawl and is adapted to be engaged thereby,said ratchet being clampingly held, against the collar 13 by the nut 27, engaged on the outer threaded end of the extension (5, and thus being rotated with the collar and extension, while the wheel has either 60, 120, or a like increased number of teeth according to whether the alarm to sound at the termination of a certain inunber of minutes, halt l'llllllll'GS or lesser tractious of time.

The operation of my device will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 1, from which it will be seen that the ratchet 'wne'el rotates with the arbor of the minute hand, thus making one revolution an hour, and that the pawl is adapted to engage one of the teeth of the ratchet and thus the plate 1.8 is carried around with the ratchet, said plate having an abutment 28 adapted to contact with a stationary abutment 29 secured to the clock and connected by the wire 30 with a battery 81, the other pole of the battery being connected by the wire 32, with the angle bracket 33, which is disposed in the path of the pawl, the electrical circuit being completed through the bracket, pawl, plate, abutments and connecting wires, a suitable alarm 34 being introduced into the circuit and actuated by the closing thereof. The bracket 33 has an inclined or cam end 35 which engages the pointed end of the pawl just above the ratchet, the continued movement of the ratchet causing the pawl to ride upward on said cam end until it is free of the ratchet, while at the same time the cam and blade spring together will swing the pawl on its pivot stud against. the abutment 2 1, when the pawl being no longer engaging the ratchet the spring 36 which has one end secured to the nut 16 and the other to the stud 37 on the plate 18 will swing the plate 18 back away from the bracket and abutment- 29 and break the circuit to shut off the alarm. To limit the movement of the plate 18, caused by the spring 36, l secure. to the arm 10, the bracket 38, having an abutment portion 39, upon which the pawl is adapted to c ntaet. the adjustment of the arm :10 regulating the position of said abutment and the abutment forcing the pawl up against the abutment 23, when it will at the same time engage the ratchet wheel. the number of teeth skipped by the pawl between points of engagement of the ratchet being regulated by the position of the pointer arm 10 to cause the alarm to be sounded at the desired intervals as will be clearly understood from the drawings.

When it is desired to re-set the pawl or to manually release or render the same inoperative, I employ the bell crank lever 40 loosely-mounted on the collar 13 and having a cam end All adapted to engage the pawl in the same manner and with the same etl'ect as the cam end of the bracket and preferably having a spring 42 secured to said end and bracket for retaining the end up and rearward of the end of the bracket and against the abutnie'nta l carried by the bracket, while secured to the other arm of the crank lever is he chain 45 for swinging the lever on its pivot on the collar or for securing to the clock to place the cam end of the lever in advance of the end of the bracket to release the pawl before the circuit is closed to sound the alarm.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a simple, inexpensive and durable device which may be readily applied to an ordinary clock by securing an extension on the minute hand arbor and which will be of the highest etliciency and will positively operate at the termination of each period of time without necessitating the resetting of the device and which is particularly adaptable for use in schools to denote the time to change classes, in shops where certain work requires attention only at stated intervals, permitting the workman to be employed on other work between said intervals and be notified of the time to attend to the other work, or in kitchens to notify the cook when the desired number of minutes have elapsed for the cooking of a certain article.

I claim:

1. The combination with the minute hand arbor of a clock, of a ratchet secured thereon, a pawl bearing plate pivotally mounted on the arbor and having its pawl engaged by the ratchet, an abutment adapted to engage and release the pawl, and an electric circuit containing an alarm closed by the engagement of the pawl with said abutment.

The combination with the minute hand arbor of a clock, of a ratchet wheel mounted thereon to move therewith, a plate pivotally mounted on the arbor, a pawl pivoted to the plate and adapted to engage the ratchet, an adjustable abutment for limiting the movement of the plate in one direction, a stationary releasings abutment for moving the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet, and means for causing the pawl to reengage the ratchet upon contact with the adjustable abutment.

3. The combination with a driven arbor of a clock, of a ratchet secured thereon, stationary and adjustable abutments secured adjacent the ratchet, a pivoted plate adapted to vibrate between said abutments, means carried by the plate for engaging the ratchet to cause the movement of the plate in one direction, and a signal actuated by the contact of the plate with the abutment caused by the revolution of the ratchet.

4. The combination in a clock, of an arbor having an extension, a plate pivoted on the extension, a ratchet secured on the extension, a pawl carried by the plate and adapted to engage the ratchet to lock the plate and ratchet to move together, an abut-- meut secured to the clock adjacent the ratchet and adapted to throw the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet, an electric circuit closed by the contact of the pawl with the abutment, an alarm in said circuit, an adjustable abutment, the engagement of the pawl with said adjustable abutment moving the pawl back into engagement with the ratchet whereby the alarm is sounded at stated intervals.

5. The combination in a clock, of an arbor having an extension, a plate pivoted on the extension, a ratchet secured on the extension, a pawl carried by the plate and adapted to engage the ratchet to lock the plate and ratchet to move together, an abutment secured to the clock adjacent the ratchet and adapted to throw the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet, an electric circuitcontaining an alarm closed by the contact of the pawl with the abutment, an adjustable abutment for limiting said movement of the plate and for throwing the pawl back into engagement with the ratchet, whereby the alarm is sounded at stated intervals equally spaced, and means for manually releasing the pawl :trom engagement with the ratchet, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

LEWIS D. GIDDENS.

Vitnesses R. B. SIMPSON, J. C. HALES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

